Apparatus for feeding cut tobacco



Dec. 25, 1951 n. w. MoLms ETAL 2,579,950

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING CUT TOBACCO Filed Sept. 9, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet 119.51 D. w. MOLINS ETAL APPARATUS FOR FEEDING CUT TOBACCO 5 Sheets-Sheet2 Filed Sept. 9, 1946 m ma lav/672207 Dec. 25, 1951 MOUNS ETAL 2,579,950

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING CUT TOBACCO 7 Filed Sept. 9, 1946 5 shee ssheet a13H AH AwWaaE/QM Patented Dec. 25, 1951 APPARATUS FOR FEEDING CUTTOBACCO Desmond Walter Molins, Felix Frederic Ruau, and Albert ErnestFrancis, London, England, assignors to Molins Machine Company Limited,

London, England Application September 9, 1946, Serial No. 695,730 InGreat Britain September 17, 1945 9 Claims- (Cl. 131-409) This inventionconcerns improvements in or relating to apparatus for feeding cuttobacco, for example apparatus for feeding cut tobacco to cigarettemaking or tobacco. packing machines of the kind in which a mass of outtobacco is placed in a hopper or box from which it is removed by acarded conveyor or a combing member such as a carded roller (andhereinafter called a combing member) and in which a feeding device isprovided to urge the tobacco towards such combing member. Such apparatusis referred to hereinafter as apparatus of the kind described.

As is well-known, cut tobacco contains numerous short fragments of leafwhich are included in the trade term shorts. In manipulating and feedingcut tobacco, these shorts tend to fall away from the main tobacco massand it is important for commercial reasons and in order to obtainsatisfactory cigarettes that they should be incorporated within thefinished product of the machine.

According to the present invention there is provided apparatus of thekind described, comprising a plurality of members arranged side by sideand adapted to receive tobacco on their upper surfaces and to permitshorts to fall between them, said members being adapted to move upwardlyand forwardly to provide a feeding stroke to feed tobacco towards thecombing member and to move downwardly and rearwardly in a return stroke,some of said feeding members beingadapted to effect a feeding strokewhilst others are making a return stroke.

Further according to the present invention there is provided apparatusof the kind described wherein the said feeding device comprises aplurality of feeding members disposed side by side in the hopper andarranged to receive tobacco on their upper surfaces and to permit shortsto fall between them on to the base of the hopper, said feeding membersbeing adapted to feed tobacco by means of their upper surfaces towardsthe combing member. The feeding members may comprise oscillatablymounted bars.

Means may be provided for collecting the shorts which fall between thesaid members, and to deliver the shorts to the combing member (e. g. acombing roller) in the vicinity of the area at which surplus tobacco isremoved therefrom.

In the apparatus as set forth above the surplus tobacco may be removedby a toothed member reciprocating transversely to the direction ofmovement of the surface of the combing roller, and presser means may bearranged to press the tobacco in the region where surplus is removed bythe said toothed member and the shorts may be delivered to the tobaccoremoved by the said toothed member so as to mingle therewith.

The tobacco engaging surfaces of the bars may be toothed. Some of thebars may move forwards while others are moving backwards so as toprovide a continuous feed of tobacco towards the combing member.

The base of the hopper may itself comprise a shaking or vibratingconveyor adapted to urge the shorts towards the combing member. Theshorts may be urged by said vibrating conveyor into the carding of thecombing member or collected for redistribution over the mass of tobaccoin the hopper in any known manner.

Further according to the invention there is provided apparatus of thekind described wherein the said feeding device comprises aplurality offeeding members disposed side by side in the hopper and arranged toreceive tobacco on their upper surfaces and to permit shorts to fallbetween them on to the base of the hopper, some of said feeding membersbeing adapted to feed tobacco by means of their upper surfaces towardsthe combing member, while the other feeding members are adapted toengage by means of their under surfaces shorts lying on the base of thehopper which may be in the form of a vibrating conveyor and feed themtowards the combing member.

The feeding members may comprise oscillatably mounted bars, thetobacco-feeding bars being arranged to oscillate in a direction.opposite to that of the shorts-feeding bars. Tobaccofeeding andshorts-feeding bars may be arranged alternately side by side. Thetobacco-engaging surfaces of the tobacco-feeding bars may be toothed andthe shorts-engaging surfaces of the shorts-feeding bars may be toothedor carded.

Apparatus in accordance with the invention will be described by way ofexample with reference to the accompanying drawings which show apparatusfor feeding cut tobacco to a cigarettemaking machine.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a cross-sectional elevation of one form of the apparatus.

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional elevation of a modified form of the lowerpart of the apparatus shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary section on the line III-III of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a view of Figure 3 in the direction of the arrows IV-IV butnot to scale for length.

Figure 5 is a section of Figure 3 on the line V-V but not to scale forlength.

Figure 6 is a section of Figure 3 on the line VIVI but not to scale forlength.

Figure 7 is a view showing a modified form of a part of the apparatusshown in Figure 2.

Figure 8 is a fragmentary plan view of part of the apparatus shown inFigure 1.

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawings, the tobacco is placed in a hopper2 of the apparatus having a base which consists of a plate or support lforming a vibrating conveyor, similar to that disclosed in United StatesPatent No. 2,367,060, granted January 9, 1945 to Felix Frederic Ruau,and described in more detail later,

which extends towards a carded combing member which in the presentinstance consists of a carded combing roller 5. Above the base there aremounted two shafts 6 and l parallel to the axis of the combing roller,each of which carries along its whole length a row of eccentrics B.These shafts are arranged to be rotated in opposite directions.

The tobacco-feeding bars 9, which are made of wood or other suitablematerial, are adapted to be mounted on the eccentrics on the shaft, andfor this purpose each bar is provided at one end with a hole Ii] intowhich fits an eccentric of one shaft, while towards the other end of thebar is a slot II to accommodate an eccentric ofthe other shaft, so thatwhen the bar is driven by the one eccentric, the other, which rotates inthe opposite direction, is free to move along the slot at the other endof the bar, but will at the same time co-operate with the eccentric onthe other shaft in raising and lowering the bar.

The feeding stroke of a tobacco-feeding bar carries the bar upwardly andforwardly so as to feed forward the tobacco resting on the bars, and theupper surfaces of the bars may be smooth, although as shown in Figure 1they are provided with teeth as will be mentioned later.

The combing roller 5 together with the arrangements for controlling theamount of'to- 'bacco removed by it from the hopper and picking thetobacco from the carded member are substantially the same as those shownand described in United States Patent No. 2,326,793, granted August 17,1943 to Desmond Walter Molins and Felix Frederic Ruau, to whichreference should be made for full details.

The carded combing roller 5 conveys the tobacco towards a wedge-shapedtobacco separating device generally indicated by l2 and comprising anendwise reciprocating toothed blade [3 (see Figures 1 and 8), as in theearlier patent, a support Hi and a guide l5. The edge l6 of the bladeconstitutes a tobacco engaging surface and the reciprocation of theblade assists in separating the surplus tobacco from tobacco between thecarding and also tends to cause an even distribution of thetobacco.

Surplus tobacco passes over the edge I6 and the guide surface 15. Apresser l1 pivoted at l8 presses on the tobacco in the neighbourhood ofthe edge l6 and a reciprocating tamper l9 co-op erates therewith. I

A roller 20 having pins 2i removes tobacco from the passage between theguide [5 and presser I1 and deposits it on the roller 5 at a position inadvance of the edge 16. A trimming device 22, moving in the path shown;rakes tobacco backwards on to the tobacco mass in the hopper.

The tobacco on the comber 5 after passing the separating device ispicked from the carding by a picker roller 23 operating in a concave 24whereafter it is manipulated by other mechanism in any known manner,according to the design of the machine on which the apparatus is fitted.

The base plate 4 is supported on springs 25. An eccentric 26 on arotatable shaft 21 has a sheave 28 on it to which is attached a plate 29and another eccentric [26 has a sheave I28 to which is attached a plate30. The plate 29 is fixed to the plate 4 and the plate 30 has fixedthereto a balance weight 3| which is also attached to a spring 32mounted on a bracket I32. The weight is provided to balance the weightof the plate 4 and the parts movable therewith.

The eccentrics 26 and I26 and shaft 21 are supported on brackets 33which are pivoted at 34 to the sides of the hop-per and adjustable byscrews 35 so that the end of the plate which adjoins the combing rollercan be adjusted relatively thereto The shorts urged towards the combingroller by the vibrating plate 4 slide down a spring plate 36 into thetrough 31 of a con veyor comprising a worm 38 which feeds them along thetrough until they fall down a chute 39 which leads to a blower or thelike 40 whereby they are raised upwards in a pipe ll which dischargesthem on to a baffle 42 supported on a rod Q3 and are thereby spread outover the roller 20. The right-hand screw .35 in the position shownallows the bracket 33 to be swung back to a definite position afterlooking screws I33 have been released. This is convenient when an excessof shorts has accumulated as the space between the end of the plate land the combing roller can be enlarged to allow the shorts to be rapidlymoved over the plate 36 whose flexibility permits the adjustment to bemade. The bracket 33 can then be moved back to the normal positionagainst the left-hand screw 35.

In the construction described with reference to Figure 1, it has beenstated that the tops of the feeding bars 9 may be smooth. It i found,however, that possibly better results are obtained when the bars. areroughened, for example by pins 409, Figure 1, arranged to extend aboutone third or one quarter of the length of the bars from the end nearestto the combing roller 5. In such an arrangement it is believed that withthe mass of tobacco in the hopper only the front portion is urged by theroughened portions of the bars whereas the rear portion of the tobaccoin the hopper tends to slide. This may or may not be so, but it isdefinitely found very satisfactory to provide pins on only the firstquarter or one third of the bar nearest to the combingroller.

The sliding of the tobacco on the smooth portions of the bars enableswidely different amounts of tobacco to be accommodated in the hopperwithlittle variation in the pressure of the tobacco against the carding ofthe combing roller, since the bars urge the tobacco forwardly with ayielding pressure.

It will be observed that by the arrangement shown in Figure 1 the barshave considerable strength, and consequently can be made relatively longso that alarge amount of tobacco can be placed in the hopper at a time.

Referring now to Figures 2 to 6, most of the parts shown in Figure 2which are the same as those shown in Figure 1 have the same referencesand need no further description. The feeding bars shown and describedbelow, are operated by shafts bearing eccentrics as before, but in thepresent case there are bars for feeding the shorts towards the combingroller as well as the tobaccofeeding bars. A tobacco-feeding bar I09 isarranged next to a shorts-feeding bar 44, shown broken in Figure 2, andnext to that is another tobacco-feeding bar 209 which is 180 out ofphase with the bar I 09.

The tobacco-feeding bars 109 and 209 are arranged to be driven by ashaft I01, the shortsfeeding bars '44 by a shaft I06, the eccentricsbeing marked 8 as before. All adjacent bars 44, I09 and 20.9 areseparated by washers 309, Figure 3.

The arrangement will be better understood from Figures 4, 5 and 6'. Thusthe tobacco-feeding and shorts-feeding bars, which are mountedalternately along the shafts, are oscillated in opposite directions, Thefeeding stroke of a tobacco-feeding bar carries the bar upwardly andforwardly so as to feed forward the tobacco resting on the bars, whilethe shorts-feeding bar has a downward and forward movement in itsfeeding stroke, so as to engage short on the hopper base and urge themtowards the combing roller so that they fall down the plate 36 as beforethough they might be pressed into the carding roller.

The shorts-feeding bars are provided on their undersides with pins,carding or the like, or serrated as shown at 45 so as to engage theshorts on the base 4 of the hopper, and are disposed a suitable distanceabove the base to be able to engage such shorts and feed them forward.The tobacco-feeding bars do not extend quite so far down towards thehopper base as do the shortsfeeding bars, (see Figure 3), but are of asufiicient depth to prevent any excessive building-up of shorts in thespaces between the shorts-feeding bars. The tobacco-feeding bars may beprovided with pins 509 on their upper surfaces as shown in Figure '7.

In the example shown in Figure 2 all the shortsfeeding bars perform thesame stroke simultaneously, so that they feed the shorts intermittently,although the shorts are, of course, being continuously fed forward bythe vibrating conveyor 4 which forms the base of the hopper, and thepurpose of the shorts-feeding bars is to assist this continuous feed. Inthe case of the tobacco-feeding bars both in Figures 1 and 2, thearrangement is such that alternate tobacco-feeding bars perform oppositestrokes, so that while one set of tobacco-feeding bars performs afeeding stroke, alternate bar are returning, and thus a continuous feedfor the tobacco is provided. The arrows in Figures 4 and 6 show thedirection of move ment of the three bars above described.

What we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patentis:

1. Apparatus for feeding cut tobacco, comprising a hopper for thetobacco, a combing member to remove tobacco from the hopper, and afeeding device to support the mass of tobacco in the hopper and urgetobacco against the combing member, the said feeding device comprising aplurality of feeding members each of which extends length wise of thedirection of feed and which are disposed side by side in the hopper andarranged to receive tobacco on their upper surfaces and to permit shortsto fall between them, said feeding members being supported for bodilyorbital movement lengthwise of the hopper, and means to move some ofsaid members upwardly and for wardly to urge tobacco by means of theirupper surfaces against the combing member and concurrently to move otherof said members downwardly and rearwardly in a return stroke, whereinthe said feeding members have smooth porfering amounts of tobacco in thehopper.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the feeding members compriseoscillatably mounted bars.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the tobacco engaging surfacesof the feeding members are partly toothed.

4. Apparatus for feeding out tobacco, comprising a hopper for thetobacco, a combing member to remove tobacco from the hopper, and. afeeding device to support the mass of tobacco in the hopper and urgetobacco against the combing membergthe said feeding device comprising aplurality of oscillatably mounted bars which extend lengthwise of thedirection of feed and which are arranged side by side in the hopper soas to support the mass of tobacco in the hopper and are supported foroscillation in orbital paths to impart a feeding motion to the tobaccoto urge the latter towards and press it against the combing member,mechanism for concurrently imparting to some of said bars a feed strokeand to other bars a return stroke, the upper surfaces of the said barshaving smooth portions on which tobacco in that portion of the hopper,remote from the combing member, can slide.

5. Apparatus for feeding cut tobacco comprising a hopper for thetobacco, a combing member to remove tobacco from the hopper, and afeeding device to support the mass of tobacco in the hopper and urgetobacco against the combing member, the said feeding device comprising aplurality of feeding members each of which extends lengthwise of thedirection of feed and which are disposed side by side in the hopper andarranged to receive tobacco on their upper surfaces and to permit shortsto fall between them, said members being supported for movement inorbital paths so as to move alternately towards and away from thecombing member to feed tobacco to the combing member, mechanism forconcurrently moving some of said members in a feed stroke and others ina return stroke, wherein the feeding members have smooth upper surfaceswhich are unbroken along the greater part of their lengths and haveprojections at those parts near the combing member, whereby tobacco inthe hopper near to the combing member can be engaged by the projectionswhile tobacco in the hopper further away from the combing member canslide on the unbroken smooth parts of the feeding members due to anincrease of pressure between the tobacco and the combing member.

6. Apparatus for feeding cut tobacco, comprising a hopper for thetobacco, a combing member to remove tobacco from the hopper, and afeeding device to support the mass of tobacco in the hopper and urgetobacco against the combing member, the said feeding device comprising aplurality of feeding members each of which extends lengthwise of thedirection of feed of the tobacco and which are disposed in the hopperand arranged to receive tobacco on their upper surfaces and to permitshorts to fall between them on to the base of the hopper, some of saidfeeding members being positioned to feed tobacco by means of their uppersurfaces against the combing member, while the other feeding members arepositioned adjacent to the base of the hopper to engage by means oftheir under sur-.

faces shorts lying on the base of the hopper and feed them towards thecombing member.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the feeding members compriseoscillatably mounted bars, the tobacco-feeding bars being arranged tooscillate in a direction opposite to that of the shorts-feeding bars. 7

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the tobacco-feeding andshorts-feeding bars are 10 arranged alternately side by side.

9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the tobacco-engagingsurfaces of the tobaccofeeding bars are partly smooth and partly toothedand the shorts-engaging surfaces of the shorts- 15 feeding bars aretoothed.

DESMOND WALTER MOLINS.

FELIX FREDERIC lRUAU. ALBERT ERNES'I FRANCIS.

8 REFERENCES CITED 4 The following references are of record in the fileof this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

